Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Decorative Turkey Callmakers: Artists Or Craftsmen, Lauren E. Virgo

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the history of the wild turkey call and the role of decorative callmakers in the world of art and craft. Is a turkey callmaker an artist or a craftsman? Are their decorative turkey calls works of art or works of craft? This debate is explored via the decorative turkey calls that have won the Decorative Turkey Call Best of Show portion of the National Wild Turkey Federation’s Grand National Callmaking Competition. These winning turkey calls are currently on display at the NWTF’s Winchester Museum in Edgefield, South Carolina.

The National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) is a non-profit …

Yiddish And Relation To The German Dialects, Bryan Witmore

Theses and Dissertations

In an attempt to balance the complex, multi-component nature of Yiddish with its more homogenous speech community – Ashekenazic Jews –Yiddishists have proposed definitions for the Yiddish language that cannot be considered linguistic in nature. Instead, Yiddish is often seen as a cultural phenomenon. Closely related to the issue of what Yiddish is, is how Yiddish came about. This paper addresses these two issues by comparing Yiddish to German dialects in an attempt to demonstrate Yiddish’s linguistic proximity with German and also to approach a hypothesis for the origins of Yiddish.

The Civil, Silent, And Savage In Ishiguro's The Buried Giant, Alexander J. Steele

Theses and Dissertations

In this paper I argue that the political situation between Britons and Saxons within Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant further articulates Ishiguro’s ongoing critique of Western humanism’s logic of labelling the Other. I also argue for a definition of the figure of the buried giant broadly speaking as the Other par excellence, as an entity of pure alterity, and as a Lèvinasian “infinite other.” As The Buried Giant demonstrates, Ishiguro continues to write against the politics of humanism that have flourished in Western art, science, and political philosophy since the Enlightenment. Though Ishiguro sets The Buried Giant loosely in the …

The Cutman, Christopher S. Koslowski

Theses and Dissertations

In this novel, professional wrestler Domingo Contreras coaches his sister, Pilar, on the eve of her tryout with Mid-Coast Championship Wrestling, a small federation based in Charlotte, North Carolina. While facing dilemmas concerning his identity inside and outside the ring, Domingo comes to realize that the business which is gradually destroying him will consume his sister at an even more terrifying rate.

Restoring The Dock Street Theatre: Cultural Production In New-Deal Era Charleston, South Carolina, Stephanie E. Gray

Theses and Dissertations

The Dock Street Theatre project, completed between the years 1935 and 1937 in Charleston, South Carolina, was a New Deal experiment in “historical restoration” funded by President Franklin Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA). Opening night of the restored theatre signified the transformation of the Old Planters’ Hotel, a dilapidated nineteenth-century resort built on the site of the original 1736 playhouse, into an architectural gem that resurrected the eighteenth-century theatre that was considered the cultural heart of colonial Charleston. The orchestrated recreation of the Dock Street Theatre resulted from the imperative of Charleston’s white elite to foment through architecture a tangible …

A Survey Of Attitudes Towards Burnout Among Music Students At The University Of South Carolina School Of Music, Philip David Castro

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to define burnout specific to musicians. The study explored the attitudes towards burnout of student musicians at the University of South Carolina School of Music. A survey was created based on models in the research literature, and was administered to music students with the permission of the School of Music administration. Internal review board approval was obtained. The survey was available via the Internet. Participation was voluntary and student anonymity guaranteed.

The population of the survey consisted of 416 undergraduate and graduate music students enrolled in the 2016 spring semester. Of the 416 total …

21st Century Choral Performance Practice: Presenting The Mash-Up With Practical Applications, Justin Xavier Carteret

Theses and Dissertations

Recent paradigm shifts in music production have generated a newly recognized texture formed by blending two or more pre-existent and pre-recorded songs together. Originating in pop culture, mash-ups often sample from genres and cultures otherwise not typically associated. This new form requires formal definition, codification, and application. Developments in digital coding and dissemination of the latter twentieth century expanded the diapason of music composition, revealing the mash-up as a naturally occurring product of harmonic evolution. A description of the computer software Audacity and its capabilities depicts an uncomplicated aural-based method for composition which generated the early mash-ups of the 2000’s. …

Bayesian Nonparametric Approaches To Multiple Testing, Density Estimation, And Supervised Learning, William Cipolli Iii

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents methods for several applications of Polya tree models. These novel nonparametric approaches to the problems of multiple testing, density estimation and supervised learning provide an alternative to other parametric and nonparametric models. In Chapter 2, the proposed approximate finite Polya tree multiple testing procedure is very successful in correctly classifying the observations with non-zero mean in a computationally efficient manner; this holds even when the non-zero means are simulated from a mean-zero distribution. Further, the model is capable of this for “interestingly different” observations in the cases where that is of interest. Chapter 3 proposes discrete, and …

Remembering Salinger's Franny And Zooey Through Pari And The Royal Tenenbaums, Taraneh Zohadi

Theses and Dissertations

This paper explores the ways in which Mehrjui’s Pari and Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums borrow from Salinger’s Franny and Zooey. My argument is that Salinger and the concepts he introduced in the book are remembered through both films. Being a product of their historical/cultural contexts, The Royal Tenenbaums embraces the aesthetics of the text and Pari converses with the spiritual aspect of the main text. Anderson’s film captures the United States’ preoccupation consumerism and the hollowness at turn of the twenty-first century, while Pari explores the angst and despair in the post Iran-Iraq war context of the film’s release, feelings …

Sifting Through The Sand: Adaptive Flexibility In The Middle Archaic Occupations Of The Sandhills Province Of South Carolina, Audrey Rachel Dawson

Theses and Dissertations

Based on a sample of Coastal Plain Middle Archaic sites in addition to lithic debitage data from three Morrow Mountain (7,500-5,500 BP) occupation clusters at the Three Springs site (38RD837/841/842/844), Richland County, South Carolina, this dissertation explores the applicability of a model of Adaptive Flexibility to the Morrow Mountain occupations of the South Carolina Sandhills Province. The model of Adaptive Flexibility was developed to explain the redundant, low-density scatters of lithic debitage and generalized, expedient tools made of locally available raw materials that characterize the Middle Archaic, specifically Morrow Mountain, archaeological record of the South Carolina Piedmont. Multiple lines of …

A Study Of Material Diversity In The Carolina Colony: Silver Bluff, Yaughan, Curriboo, And Middleburg Plantations, Brandy Joy

Theses and Dissertations

The Carolina Backcountry is a temporally and geographically defined area reaching westward from the Carolina Lowcountry and its center, Charleston. For roughly a one hundred year span between the late seventeenth century and late eighteenth century it was a frontier and contact zone for colonists and indigenous groups. The Backcountry has sometimes been considered culturally and socially retarded, lacking the material refinement found in the colonial center of Lowcountry Charleston, South Carolina. Often landed estates in the eighteenth century Carolina Backcountry have been portrayed as one side of a dichotomy between refinement and local, rural folk craft traditions. I propose …

A History Of The Plagal-Amen Cadence, Jason Terry

Theses and Dissertations

Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, most hymns in the Anglo-American tradition ended with the congregation singing amen following the original stanzas, almost always framed within a plagal cadence. Helping this tradition take root was Hymns Ancient & Modern (1861), an Anglican hymnal that published the “amen” cadence after every modern hymn. This practice was heavily adopted among other denominational hymnals throughout England and the United States, peaking around the turn of the century. By the middle of the twentieth century, a decline in the number of hymnals including this cadence was noticeable; however, it would take until the end of …

A Comprehensive Examination Of The Saxophone Chamber Music Of John Fitz Rogers, Gabriel Michael Anthony Fadale

Theses and Dissertations

The body of classical saxophone chamber repertoire is an ever-evolving collection of music. Presently, many contemporary composers endeavor to write for the saxophone, some more successfully than others. Modern musical language can be overly obtuse and convoluted with avant-garde techniques and sounds that, when performed, may cause an emotional and intellectual disconnect between the performer and the audience. When new pieces are composed that are of high quality and use language that is accessible to performers and audiences alike, it is important for saxophonists to be aware of these compositions and the composers creating them. This document presents the music …

G.I. Joe V. Jim Crow: Legal Battles Over Off-Base School Segregation Of Military Children In The American South, 1962-1964, Randall George Owens

Theses and Dissertations

Between 1962 and 1964, the U.S. Justice Department, African American military members stationed on southern military bases, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed six federal civil suits to end off-base segregation of military children in public schools. These cases took place in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia. Plaintiffs sought to bring civilian cities near federal military bases into compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown decision. The presence of federal military bases, which had been integrated since a 1948 Executive Order issued by President Harry S. Truman, provided leverage against ongoing …

Post-Genre: Understanding The Classical-Jazz Hybrid Of Third Stream Music Through The Guitar Works Of Frederic Hand, Ralph Towner, And Ken Hatfield, Andrew Jurik

Theses and Dissertations

Gunther Schuller coined the term “third stream” in 1957 as a reference for a style of music that blends the practices of both the classical and the jazz traditions. Despite a fair critical reception and the efforts of like-minded musicians and composers, third stream as a musical concept failed to achieve much commercial success, and by the 1970s it was considered a passing modernist fad. Nonetheless, the fusion of classical and popular musical genres that embodies spirit of third stream thrives today, although most practitioners tend to neglect the term itself. The purpose of this document is to examine the …

The Electric Marimba: A Study Of Selected Works For Marimba With Electronic Effect, Brett Bernard Landry

Theses and Dissertations

Over the course of the last century, literature for the solo marimba has been greatly expanded by a wide variety of composers to include nearly every contemporary style and genre. One such area of expansion is the use of electronic effect, defined as the augmentation of the acoustic marimba using looping and delay technologies in live performance. This study illuminates the history of electronic effect technology and briefly describes the technological options employed in the genre of marimba with electronic effect. Concepts specific to the genre are also addressed; specifically, the terminology of rhythmic delay and harmonic delay. To introduce …

Base Rates Of Cognitive And Academic Weaknesses, Allison L. Stafford

Theses and Dissertations

The identification of learning disabilities is critical for receiving intervention services; however, special education eligibility criteria often varies across districts, resulting in large variations in identification rates. (Hallahan, Keller, & Ball, 1986; Scruggs & Mastropieri, 2002; Reschly & Hosp, 2004; Maki, Floyd & Roberson, 2015). A new method for identifying learning disabilities, patterns of strengths and weaknesses (PSW), has risen in popularity as a method for assessing and informing interventions for students with learning disabilities. Despite the growing popularity of PSW approaches, little is known about the prevalence of cognitive and academic weaknesses in the population (Miciak, Fletcher, Stuebing, Vaughn, …

Defining And Displaying Gallo: Language And Ideology In Upper Brittany, France, Sandra Keller

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines discourse practices in and about Gallo, a marginalized Romance language of Upper Brittany, France. Specifically, it explores how various Gallo social actors (advocates, performers, teachers and students) defined, labeled and displayed Gallo, as they constructed it as a language capable of participating in modernity, producing local authority, and forging links with loved people and places.

Gallo was popularly imagined as part of a rural past and dismissed as a “deformation” of French, unlike the Breton language, which stood as a salient emblem of Brittany’s cultural distinctiveness. This dissertation elucidates the ideological and everyday consequences of using this …

Music Majors And Meditation Practice: A Phenomenological Study, Travis N. Baird

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine undergraduate and graduate music majors’ perceived experiences while learning and practicing a meditation technique. Guiding research questions included: 1) How did meditation practice alter participants’ thoughts related to music performance? 2) How did meditation practice influence participants’ perceived Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) symptoms? 3) What aspects of meditation practice did participants find most/least helpful in perceived reduction of negative MPA symptoms? 4) How did meditation practice influence post-performance self-evaluation? 5) What influence does meditation practice have on participants during performance preparation? Six music majors were selected as participants and data was …

Changing The Conversation: Diversity At Living History Museums, Sarah M. Lerch

Theses and Dissertations

"Changing the Conversation: Diversity at Living History Museums" explores the lack of diversity among costumed historians at living history sites. Using Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts as a case study, this paper traces the history of diversity among costumed staff and the interpretation at the site. I suggest solutions and ideas for interpretative planning to increase the representation of minority perspectives into the historical narrative of the site and include more ethnic and racial diversity among the employed costumed staff.

Metafiction In Mourning: The Intersections Of Gender Performance And Postdictatorial Memory In Novels By Luisa Valenzuela, Clarice Lispector, And Diamela Eltit, Jennifer L. Slobodian

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project is to build on two major theoretical fields, feminism and postdictatorial memory, in the context of Latin American women’s writing. The development of Latin American feminism has run concurrently with the broader feminist movements of the 20th century, but has been shaped by the particularities and diversity of the region. Specific concerns relating to postcoloniality, religion, and nation have caused theorists like Debra A. Castillo to discuss Latin American feminism on its own, focusing on the inherent privileging of praxis over theory and the necessary pastiche of local and international theories. The development of Latin …

Cultural Perceptions Of Chikungunya In The Dominican Republic, James Preston Kerns

Theses and Dissertations

Chikungunya (CHIKV) is a mosquito-borne virus that recently (2013) entered the Western hemisphere and tore through the Caribbean and most of Latin America. The symptoms include rash, joint pain, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, and fever. In many cases, sufferers report persistent arthralgia long after the actual viral infection has subsided. There are a variety of misperceptions about CHIKV, which directly impact public health efforts aimed at reducing the prevalence of the disease. Understanding the epidemic spread of CHIKV in the DR and the growth of misconceptions about the origin, severity, cause, and treatment of the disease requires a perspective that encompasses …

The Artificial Creation Of Life And What It Means To Be Human, Caroline Mosser

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is focused on the literary representations of the artificial creation of (human) life. This project is based on the belief that advances in bio-technologies have the potential to challenge core values of society and that literature offers a space to identify and address them before their actual appearance. While the texts studied do not provide actual answers to extremely complex moral questions, they offer a starting point for reflection. They question our morality in many ways, especially because they force us to think about who and what we are as human beings. This project is a study of …

Visual Word Recognition By Arab Esl Learners: Phonological Versus Orthographic Consonantal Influence On Vowels, Raed A. Alguthami

Theses and Dissertations

The current study is on second language acquisition (SLA), and the focus is on the process of visual word recognition in English by Arab learners of English as a second language (ESL). Arab ESL learners have poor performance in their visual word recognition in English, which has been explicated in terms of their poor spelling knowledge of English words. The goal of the current study was to show that Arab ESL learners' visual word recognition in English is also influenced by properties of English influencing American English (AE) native speakers’ visual word recognition.

In chapter 3, it is hypothesized that, …

Divine Ideas For Metaphysical Realism, Michelle Lynn Panchuk

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years more and more theist philosophers have turned their attention to an apparent tension between the existence of abstract universals and the God of classical monotheisms. In this project I argue that this tension can be relieved by adopting a Neo-Augustinian account of universals. When the doctrine of creation ex nihilo is given sufficient place within one’s theory, divine concepts can do all of the work for which abstract universals are usually posited. Over the course of 5 chapters, I argue that the problem of universals, at base, requires a theory of properties as its solution; that my …

Like I Said, Matthew Mossman

Theses and Dissertations

Like I Said is a collection of memoir essays spanning the author’s life from his earliest memories to the present day. Topics touched on include but are not limited to: the struggle of being raised as an undiagnosed sufferer of ADHD, the cultural/familial dynamics at work in rural southeast Missouri, the author’s trial with hitting puberty and finding religion in the same year, and the ongoing shifts in the Mossman family’s relational dynamics in the years since the author’s mother was first diagnosed with breast cancer.

Structurally, the text takes inspiration from the “lyric essay,” a subgenre of creative nonfiction …

Strike-Slip, Amanda Mitchell

Theses and Dissertations

strike-slip is a work of poetry in which a female speaker seeks answers for a violent past she is just beginning to unravel. By revisiting and reconsidering scenes from girlhood, including the broken objects and split bodies she encountered in the Appalachian wilderness she grew up in and around, she attempts to gain insight into a present state of selfhood that continues to elude her. The poems here come together to conduct an excavation—each memory is an old bone from which the speaker must carefully brush the dust away until she can figure out something about the larger thing it …

Patient Agency, Terministic Screens, And The Role Of The Public In The Cases Of Karen Ann Quinlan And Terri Schiavo, Ashley Marie Moore

Theses and Dissertations

Humanity has always been fascinated with death, and in recent history, has attempted to delay or suspend death through life-preserving technologies. These advancements in artificial life support, such as ventilators and feeding tubes, have contributed to tenuous and controversial situations in which the dividing line between life and death is unclear. In this thesis, I interrogate two case studies in order to analyze how the various medical, legal, and public discourses have grappled with the ambiguous space between life and death regarding patients in persistent vegetative states. The case of Karen Ann Quinlan from 1975 and the case of Terri …

A New Method For Ecoacoustics? Toward The Extraction And Evaluation Of Ecologically-Meaningful Soundscape Components Using Sparse Coding Methods, Alice Eldridge, Michael Casey, Paola Moscoso, Mika Peck

Dartmouth Scholarship

Passive acoustic monitoring is emerging as a promising non-invasive proxy for ecological complexity with potential as a tool for remote assessment and monitoring (Sueur & Farina, 2015). Rather than attempting to recognise species-specific calls, either manually or automatically, there is a growing interest in evaluating the global acoustic environment. Positioned within the conceptual framework of ecoacoustics, a growing number of indices have been proposed which aim to capture community- level dynamics by (e.g., Pieretti, Farina & Morri, 2011; Farina, 2014; Sueur et al.,2008b) by providing statistical summaries of the frequency or time domain signal. Although promising, the ecological relevance and …

Enslaved Labor In The Gang And Task Systems: A Case Study In Comparative Bioarchaeology Of Commingled Remains, William D. Stevens

Theses and Dissertations

This study designs and tests an approach intended to confront one of the major problems faced within biological anthropology, the commingling or mixing of human skeletal remains. The first goal of the study is to implement an approach to sorting mixed human remains in order that they can be made amenable to comparative study. Bioarchaeologists depend on an array of measures, preserved in the human skeleton, to assess the lifestyles and identity of past human groups. As many of these measures are preserved within the morphology of different bones, it is imperative that the association and context of remains are …